In
mid-March, 2011, a number of Masonsreceived
invitations to join a 'discussion website' at facelodge.com. Prior to this time,
there were no announcements about this site nor did the invitation give any hint
as to the creators of the site or their Masonic affiliation, if any. The site is
designed, perhaps illegally, to look like Facebook™. The website's registration
is 'hidden' through a private domain registration at GoDaddy.com. Because of the
clandestine status of this site, we would discourage
any regular/recognized Mason from getting involved. Despite my very active
online presence, I didn't receive an invitation. But, no need to feel bad:
they're gone and forgotten at this point. We wonder why....

'MUGGED IN LONDON' email

Perhaps not coincidentally, the day following those invitations being sent, I
received - at two personal email addresses - a plea from a Brother Mason in
Canada claiming to have been in London where he was mugged. The email, somewhat
predictably, asked for cash. However, as this Brother was
seriously ill at the time and such travel would have been completely impossible
for him, I knew the message to be a scam.

Further, the email was nearly identical to one that another Mason had
ostensibly sent this past summer, again claiming to be in London and needing
cash. Needless to say, it was false also.

What has happened - in both cases - is that a
Mason's email address book had been stolen.

Is it possible that the Canadian Mason signed into the facelodge.com website
where his address book was electronically purloined? Perhaps.

Be forewarned that if you do receive an email from someone you know claiming
to be in London (or anywhere unexpected) and needing you to send cash, it is a
scam! If the situation were as it's presented in the email, why didn't your
friend just phone you and talk to you personally? Don't fall for these scams,
Brethren!

Contacting us directly

Shortly after noting our concerns on another website, we received the
following e-mail which makes this appear EVEN MORE of a scam. The notes I've
added in red explain why!

====================================

*** If you are not a regular Freemason, you have received this email by
mistake, and you are not welcome to join Facelodge Masonic Private Network. If
this is your situation, please delete this message, as you will not pass the
account verification process. Thank you ***

Really? They have a database which can check
someone's membership in every Grand Lodge in the world to ensure that the only
people they allow in are "regular Freemasons"? And by which Grand Lodge's
standards? ANYONE even vaguely familiar with Masonic recognition understands
that not all Grand Lodges recognize all others. Further, why is this requirement
imposed in the first place? They are not a tyled lodge.... The person/persons
behind this endeavor seems to want to continue the obfuscation.

Hello,

You have been invited by facelodge to join Facelodge a private and by invitation
only Masonic Network.

To join, please follow the link below:

The following invitation code is valid just for this email address, you may use
this email address during your create account process.

You will need to enter this inviation <sic>code: <redacted>

----------------------------------------
You are being invited to join Facelodge since you claim on your website not have
been invited.

Yes, I did "claim" I hadn't been
invited - but that was only a small part of my concerns and I noted that I
personally would never join an online site of this type without knowing who was
behind it. And as commented above, the ownership of the site is hidden and the
'look and feel' of Facebook appears to have been misappropriated. This
'personalized form' e-mail completely ignores all of these concerns!

Feel free to create your account, and invite other Br.·. of your Grand Lodge
if you are pleased.

Facelodge is not a Scam as you claim. Enter and see that for yourselves.

"Come into my parlor..." said the
spider to the fly. If the site is NOT a scam, why hide who the individuals are
behind it? As one who is extremely active online, I'd advise any Mason to use
caution before becoming involved. Just 'trying it out' could result in a virus
being placed on your computer, personal records being stolen, and more. Their
invitation still seems awfully like a scam.

Once you create your account you will have a welcome friendship request from
facelodge, and administrative account. Anithing <sic> you like to ask will be
answeared. <sic>

Let's start with a few questions: WHO
ARE YOU and why are you hiding your identity? Why so many grammatical and
spelling errors? Why does someone have to join your site in order to have
questions answered? Is this the way Freemasonry works in the real world?
(Answer: NO! Only in the world of bogus/scam entities who take on the trappings
of Freemasonry to attract the unwary!!!)

----------------------------------------

Best Regards,
Facelodge.com
Masonic Private Network

Deliberate obfuscation

When someone is doing
something right, they don't have any problems answering questions or explaining
themselves, even if they've been 'off base' in their actions. Particularly when
bogus pseudo-Masons, however, try to do things, they invariably become angry and
defensive if they're questioned. What's more, they try to mislead through the
use of 'tricks' which they think will not be noticed. Sadly, they're often
correct in their assumptions and get away with a lot of things that - upon
examination - no regular Mason would want to become involved with.

Such is the case with the person behind
the Facelodge.com scam, it would seem. When a question was asked on the Grand
Lodge of Massachusetts discussion forum about this, I replied expressing my
opinion. Immediately thereafter, an unidentified person signed up to defend the
site. Curiously, he claimed to be from "Washington, Washington". Make sense to
you? No, not to anyone living in the US either. You can read the full exchange
here.

On another Masonic forum, you can find a
similar discussion. Read carefully and you'll note a couple of references to
"Ed". That's me, folks. The phoniness of the site's claim to 'regularity' had
been challenged and was, of course, met with predictable antagonism.

Had this been the work of a
regular/recognized Mason, one would have expected to receive a full and frank
explanation of what it was all about. There was/is no need to hide and to not
disclose the parties behind the endeavor - unless, of course, it's not totally
legitimate!

Thus we'll reiterate: this is NOT going to be
what you think it is - and don't blame us if you wind up getting your address
book or other personal information stolen as a result of your involvement.

Got more to add? Drop us a note (instructions are below: follow them, please)
and we'll be happy to add your experiences here. Oh, and in this case, please do
identify yourself and your lodge (with location) so we can confirm you're not
just the same non-English speaking person trying to continue the scam!

Now,
more than ever before....

And, perhaps
coincidentally but likely not, a number of non-published internet email
addresses we established for 'throw-away' purposes have experienced a HUGE
influx of junk mail, much of it from similar sources. For want of a better
explanation, we trace it all to facelodge.com. Thanks, fools!

Created 6 August
2011 - but they were gone soon afterwards, another scheme to trap the unwary
unmasked!

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